Miscellany

First - the winner of the Thanksgiving yarn - which is a skein of the desperately sought after Wollmeise goes to Susan R! I'll be popping that in the mail to you.

The last couple of weeks have been full of work, baking, and holiday functions.

Last weekend, my friend "Ivy" and her sisters "Holly" and "Berry" had a few of their friends over for a Christmas Tea. It was a wonderful time.



As you can see, they went all out in the costume department. I only had a flashing necklace so I felt a bit underdressed. I'll have to start planning for next year.

I don't know why but I've been in a baking mood. Last weekend was our first snow storm, which means that I knitted and baked about 8 dozen cookies on Saturday while listening to Christmas music. Meanwhile the snow fell until we had 8 inches on the ground. We got another 3/4 inch yesterday and we're looking at another 2-4 inches tomorrow.

I found the best way to soften up butter. Ten minutes and it's ready to mix into the batter.



I like to avoid knitting under the pressure of deadlines and especially avoid the whole gotta-get-X-Y-Z-knitted-before-Christmas knitting. Except for this year. Our friends have an exchange student from Frankfurt who is returning home later this month. Her favorite color is orange, so I have knit her the Flower Bud Beanie and am half-way finished with a pair of Fetching made from orange Malabrigo worsted weight.

I've also started Christmas gifts for my brother and sister-in-law as we'll be together at their house in Montana for Christmas (weather-permitting, that is). My MIL and SIL will each get Lauren's Wimple made from Mountain Colors Weavers Wool and my BIL will get a scarf made from Blue Sky Alpaca. I'd like to get these done before we leave. Even though I'll have lots of knitting time in the car (at least 11 hours if I do half of the driving), I don't want to have to block these at their house as they've got 2 boys under the age of 4 running around.

I'm happy to report all the yarn is from stash. I've added a ticker as I'd like to see how long I can go without buying yarn (other than for a swap - I'm not counting yarn I'm buying as a gift for another person.) We'll see how long my resolve can hold out.